2000-2001

Inventor Dean Kamen Joins Teachers Across the Nation to Discuss Technology in the Classroom March 29-31 at WPI

WORCESTER, Mass. - When asked a question, high-school principal
Pauline Lamarche raised her hand, just as she hopes all good students
do at her Massachusetts Academy of Mathematics and Science:

"What school would be interested in hosting a national conference
for 350 teachers of science and technology?"

Two years ago, Lamarche answered "We will." While excited about
hosting a national conference of her peers, she also knew that a
gathering of 350 high-school and college teachers from across the
United States, mid school year, is a daunting task. And there's the
small matter of funding such an event.

On a recent afternoon, however, Lamarche savored a triumphant
moment, driving home after a brief meeting with an executive at EMC
Corp. in Hopkinton, Mass. She had just received a commitment for
$50,000 for sponsorship of the conference, more than she originally
requested. That conference, "Morphing Education by Infusing
Technology," will be held March 29-31 in Worcester, Mass. In addition,
Worcester Polytechnic Institute, home to Lamarche's Mass Academy, has
volunteered to cohost the national event.

"I agonized about the conference for months after agreeing to host
it," Lamarche said. "In the middle of the night, I'd wake up thinking
about what it should be. I kept coming back to one key to explaining
the event. In today's world, we've changed from an education that just
teaches the '3 R's to one that uses 'reading, writing and arithmetic'
through the 3 W's: the World Wide Web."

Lamarche's event, officially the 14th Annual Professional
Conference of the National Consortium for Specialized Secondary
Schools of Mathematics, Science & Technology (NCSSSMST), will take
place on the WPI campus and at the nearby Crowne Plaza
Hotel. Conference sessions will focus on engineering, distance
learning, integration of technology and teaching techniques. In
addition to a multitude of sessions and events, "Morphing Education"
will present three of the country's most enthusiastic proponents of
science and technology education:

Dean Kamen shows his stair-climbing wheelchair
to President Clinton. (White House photo)

Dean Kamen, president and owner of DEKA Research and
Development Corp., will speak Friday, March 30, at 7:30 p.m. in
the Odeum of the WPI Campus Center, off 100 Institute Road,
Worcester. Based in Manchester, N.H., DEKA specializes in
advanced technologies in medical equipment. Recently, Kamen
appeared on 60 Minutes II to demonstrate his stair-climbing,
beach-walking wheelchair. In 1976, Kamen founded AutoSyringe
Inc., his first medical device company.

Kamen is also the founder of FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of
Science and Technology), a non-profit organization dedicated to
changing the way Americans view science and technology. FIRST
holds an annual competition showcasing robots designed by a
high-school team with corporate or university partnership. FIRST
events promote engineering excellence and teamwork. Kamen has a
long association with WPI, beginning as a physics undergraduate;
he also holds an honorary doctoral degree from WPI. The
university has been involved with the FIRST competition since
its start and each year grants a full four-year scholarship to a
FIRST team member who best exemplifies the spirit of the
program.

For more information on Kamen and FIRST, go to www.usfirst.org. Following
Kamen's speech, the Virtual Orchestra, a technological musical
performance, will be presented at 8:30 p.m. Frederick Bianchi,
WPI music professor, developed the Virtual Orchestra, also known
as the Realtime Music System.

Aliza Sherman, the founder of Cybergrrl Inc., will speak
Friday, March 30, at 9 a.m. at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in
Worcester. Founder of Webgrrls, a networking group for women with
interest in the Internet, she has written books including her
latest, "Cybergrrl at Work," as well as "Cybergrrl: A Woman's
Guide to the World Wide Web" and "Use Your Personal Power Tools:
10 Tools for Women to Succeed in Business and Life." For more
information, go to www.greatertalent.com or
call 917-826-5646.

Sheila Tobias, a noted writer and science and math
education consultant, will speak Saturday, March 31, at 9 a.m. in
Perreault Lecture Hall, Fuller Laboratories, on the WPI
campus. From 1989 to 1996, Tobias worked for the Research Corp. in
Tucson, Ariz., where she studied issues surrounding mathematics
and science education. She is the author of "Overcoming Math
Anxiety," "Breaking the Science Barrier" and "They're not Dumb,
They're Different." For more information, go to
www.sheilatobias.com.

Founded in 1865, WPI enrolls 2,700 undergraduate and 1,100 graduate
students in science, engineering, management, social science and
humanities. The Mass Academy (www.massacademy.org) is a
public high
school for students in grades 11 and 12 and a collaborative effort
among the commonwealth, WPI (www.wpi.edu) and Massachusetts high
schools to identify and nurture students with exceptional aptitude for
mathematics and science.

The conference is $135 for NCSSSMST members and $150 for
non-members. For more information, including directions, go to
www.massacademy.org/ncsssmst or
contact Lamarche at 508-831-5859 or 508-831-6222 for conference
information.